By Mario deSantis, January 23, 2000

The Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA) has repeatedly warned the government of impending nursing shortages(1), however our bureaucrats and politicians were too busy to listen to the SRNA and they continued with their grandiose effort to rightsize healthcare(2). The rightsizing efforts didn't work out as strategically planned and now, besides the many problems in health care, we are experiencing a shortage of nurses(3).

Our affable Health Minister Pat Atkinson has just reviewed a governmental commissioned report(4) on the shortage of nurses and as a consequence, she has immediately designed a three-pronged strategy to find solutions to this problem. She has stated that "we need to keep the nurses who are graduating, we need to retain the nurses we have and we need to recruit nurses from other jurisdictions". Also, she stated that a provincial Web site has been established for facilitating the recruitment of nurses from countries such as Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Pat Atkinson should be very proud of this international recruitment strategy, not only we are going to rightsize the number of nurses but we are going to save money since we are not going to pay for the training of our international nurses.

Tonight, I have been watching the news on TV and I just came to know that Pat Atkinson, without consulting with the SRNA professional body, has made the tough decision to reduce the university nursing program to three years from four. Congratulations to Pat Atkinson for putting Saskatchewan healthcare on the map of the world, for saving money, and for taking the immediate decisions to rightsize again and again the university nursing program. The saga of our incompetent healthcare leaders continues.

Endnotes

1. Nurses voice concerns, by Neil Scott, The Leader Post, January 21, 2000, Regina, Saskatchewan

2. Health Reform in Saskatchewan: Digging Holes in the Ground, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, October 20, 1999

3. Saskatchewan Nursing Shortage: Shifting the blame for our own Incompetence, by Mario deSantis, November 27, 1999

4. Province faces eight-year nursing shortage, by Martin O'Hanlon, The StarPhoenix, Jan 20, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan